عنوان

Digital Literacy to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide: A Phenomenographic Study of the Digital Diversity for the Arab Graduate Women in the United States

Number

TL50024

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Digital Literacy to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide: A Phenomenographic Study of the Digital Diversity for the Arab Graduate Women in the United States

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Heyam F. Abo Alasrar

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Franklin, Teresa

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Ohio University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2017

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

223

Text of Note

Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-392-12568-7

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Discipline of degree

Instructional Technology (Education)

Body granting the degree

Ohio University

Text preceding or following the note

2017

Text of Note

The digital divide exists worldwide. One of the forms of the digital divide is the gender digital divide: the unequal access of Internet use among men and women. Typically, women are perceived as less capable of gaining digital skills. Through a phenomenographic approach, the researcher conducted an empirical and interpretative inquiry to map the qualitatively different ways in which Arab women in the United States understand the use of technology in their lives, the skills needed for technology use, and how they define a digitally literate person. The study also explored their relation with technology and compared their experiences in using technology in the United States to their experience in their home country. The purpose of this study was to show the variation in women's perception of technology and to understand how to design strategies that can bridge the gender digital gap in the Arab world. Twenty women from different colleges at a Midwestern university were interviewed. Semi-structured questions were used to help women reflect on their experiences with technology. The data analysis formed five qualitatively different categories that described the ways Arab graduate women experienced the use of technology. These five categories described digital literacy as: a basic need, a contextual need, a need to connect, a lifestyle, and as an awareness of 4 the Internet culture. The categories describe digital literacy as understood by those women and what skills, from their perspective, a digital person should possess.

Instructional Design; Womens studies; Information Technology; Middle Eastern Studies; Educational technology

Subject Term

Applied sciences;Social sciences;Education;Arab women;Digital divide;Digital literacy;Phenomenography

Fecht, Eric Lancaster

Franklin, Teresa

Subdivision

Instructional Technology (Education)

Ohio University

Call Number

2225437315; 13893963

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y